Confined
by That Alley Cat
Summary: When Aspenpaw falls and hurts her leg, she is confined to camp until it heals. With nothing else to do, she starts exploring around camp. As she tries to figure out a secret mystery in ThunderClan, she also must make a big decision, one that could change her destiny.


The nursery was Aspenkit's favorite place. It was where she was born, and it's where she was now. Of course, she'd never seen it, but she'd felt it, and from what Aspenkit could guess, it was very small and cozy. Her mother, Cinderheart, was asleep, and from what she could scent, so were her siblings. If Daisy, Brightheart, Dewkit, Amberkit and Snowkit were also asleep, that would mean she was the only one awake in the nursery!

Aspenkit felt proud. _Only warriors are allowed to stay up late. That must mean that I'M a warrior!_ She thought, elated. She tried to open her eyes to see how dark it was, but her eyelids felt too heavy to open.

_Oh, that's just because I'm just a kit. Not because I'm sleepy! _She declared inwardly. She let out a big yawn as she thought it. A very big yawn. So big, it could be a warrior-sized yawn.

_See? Only warriors yawn that big. Not wimpy little kits!_

Aspenkit tried to get to her feet. She managed to stand for a split second, then her legs trembled and gave out. She fell on her chest. It hurt. Aspenkit squeaked and rolled to her side. Would this be her first warrior injury?

She knew about warriors quite well. Big, strong cats that served the Clan. They had the longest teeth and the sharpest claws. Each one had their own special name. They were loyal, brave and strong. They fought battles, against ShadowClan and foxes and badgers. They could go wherever they please, because they'd earned it. Aspenkit wanted to be a warrior so badly. Every time her mother was awake, Aspenkit asked her to tell her more about warriors. She loved the amazing stories her mother would tell, sometimes about her own father Lionblaze! (According to her mother, Lionblaze was the best warrior ever.)

She also knew about medicine cats. They were okay, but they were kind of boring. Still, they served the Clan just as much as warriors and deserved respect. They spent all day in their den with herbs, sorting them out and polishing them till they gleamed. (Aspenkit had absolutely no idea what "sort", "polish", and "gleam" meant, but they sounded really pretty to her.) Then, when a super brave warrior comes into the den with an awesome battle scar, they would chew the herbs up and stick it on the hurty-part. Medicine cats were super-smart. That's why they know which herbs to put on your hurty-part when you first get it.

They were still nowhere near as cool as warriors, though. Warriors were awesome!

Aspenkit yawned again. She was sleepy. Maybe she should sleep. A good warrior knows that they should sleep, because if ShadowClan attacked suddenly, they need to spring up full of energy to fight them off!

She squirmed her way to her mother's belly. Warmth surrounded her as one of her siblings snuggled her side. She relaxed and stopped thinking. Sleeping was her favorite thing to do.

* * *

><p>Aspenkit jolted awake. She wanted to be the first one up!<p>

Sadly, that wasn't the case. Two of her siblings were awake. So was her mother. Cinderheart washed in between Aspenkit's ears. Aspenkit squeaked to let her mother know she was awake. Cinderheart was pleased.

"Good morning Aspenkit!" She purred. She gave her kit another affectionate lick. Aspenkit squeaked again and squeezed her eyes shut tighter, then attempted to open them again. No use.

"Looks like you've got some competition, Aspenkit. Hollykit's opened her eyes." Cinderheart purred.

Aspenkit froze, then, almost immediately, jealousy exploded in her. How could Hollykit open her eyes before her? She was supposed to be the greater warrior, not her stupid sister! Aspenkit hissed. Then, she realized that she could be able to open her eyes _better _than Hollykit! She knew she'd have to open her eyes, and quickly!

Aspenkit squeezed her eyes shut. She closed them so tightly that she felt like a warrior. Then, she lifted her eyelids. Her eyes opened partially. They managed to stay like that as she slowly eased them all the way open.

_Yes! _Aspenkit cheered inwardly. She knew how warrior-like she was now. She blinked twice to clear her cloudy vision, taking in the colors of the den for the very first time. She'd opened her eyes completely. The first thing she saw was her mother. She was beautiful! Cinderheart looked even better than what her father had described. Her fur was shiny silver, a bit curly. Aspenkit looked up in her eyes. They were calm and serene, and gave Aspenkit a somewhat reassuring feeling. She knew wherever she went, her mother would protect her. Cinderheart looked at her kit and purred at the sight of her eyes.

"Oh, you've opened your eyes! They're the most beautiful green eyes I've ever seen." Cinderheart murmured. As she spoke, an older kit looked up from his nest.

Aspenkit and Hollykit gazed curiously at the older tom, who in return eyed his new denmates back. He'd been living with them for a quarter-moon, but he'd never seen them visibly awake. He cautiously padded from his nest and looked at the two.

"Hi, I'm Dewkit." He introduced. Hollykit purred. Aspenkit said nothing, as she was inspecting her sister. She was very dark gray, almost black. Aspenkit could faintly make out pitch-black stripes. She had eyes the color of sap, amber-green. She was also very pretty, Aspenkit remarked as she lifted a paw to lick. She drew it over her ears and concentrated on her denmates. "Look, those are your brothers." He meowed, gesturing with his tail to turn and look. Both she-cats turned their heads around. Three toms, all bigger than them were curled up asleep near their mother's belly. Cinderheart moved her tail so they'd have a better view.

_Those cats are related to me! _Aspenkit thought excitedly. She scanned them over. She knew her mother had named the toms Firekit, Mousekit, and Ravenkit, but she didn't know who was who, until Dewkit pointed them out for her.

"You guys don't understand _how_ long I was waiting for you to open your eyes! Now I can finally have more denmates to play with!" Dewpaw squeaked. Then, all of a sudden, he paused. Both kits looked confused. Hollykit opened her berry pink mouth and let out a confused meow.

"Ssh. Look." He pointed at the nursery entrance with his tail. They looked over. A few warriors were standing not far from the door. They were talking quietly to a pretty ginger she-cat with a bushy tail. She said a few commands to them, then they nodded. Aspenkit's eyes grew big and round. Real warriors! She was going to be just like them one day...even better!

"That's the dawn patrol. What they do is they go out of the Clan very early to make sure other Clans like ShadowClan don't come into the Clan and hurt anyone. After dawn, they will come back and tell the deputy what's going on. See that ginger she-cat? She's the deputy, Squirrelflight. She's second in charge of the Clan." Dewkit explained Clan customs to the two kits.

"So, if it's okay with your mother, is it okay if you two come outside with me?" Dewkit asked, looking at Hollykit.

Cinderheart interrupted. "I'm sure they'd love to, Dewkit, but they can't walk or talk yet. Besides, it's a little too early to be running around in the hollow. I can get you something to play with, as long as you don't wake anybody up."

"Yes, Cinderheart! You're my favorite queen." Dewkit exclaimed happily.

Cinderheart lightly chuckled and gave a soft lick to the top of the hyper kit's head. She cast a worried glance over her shoulder at her nest as she left the nursery to find a moss ball.

"What about me?" Brightheart asked sleepily. She had woken up and was starting to stretch her tail, bumping Snowkit out of the nest. He mewed in protest, but Brightheart teasingly cuffed his ear. "Beat it. Go get some exercise like your brother." She mewed.

Dewkit started to complain, but as Cinderheart made her way in the nursery the moss ball caught his eye and he scurried over to her. Brightheart stared gratefully at Cinderheart, then she curled up again, snuggling Amberkit, who'd opened her eyes, looked at her surroundings and started to squirm.

As Cinderheart sat back down, Lionblaze poked his head into the nursery. Cinderheart's eyes brightened as he made his way in and dropped a rabbit in the center of the nursery. "For all of you." He announced.

"Lionblaze, two of the kits have opened their eyes." Cinderheart purred.

"Well, it's about time!" He joked. "By the time the others have opened their eyes, it will be leaf-bare."

Cinderheart rolled her eyes, then said, "How about you take them into the hollow? It's been a while, and Dewkit has been asking me to. The others should be awake now."

"You sure? I didn't know they could walk."

"Hollykit can, but Aspenkit can't. I'm sure she could get a few pointers."

"Sure thing." Lionblaze licked Cinderheart's ears affectionately, then he gently picked Aspenkit up by her scruff and nudged Hollykit up. Aspenkit wriggled her legs helplessly, but she didn't do anything to stop it. She just opened her mouth and mewed.

Hollykit, as slow as a snail, followed her father outside, toppling over from time to time. When she got outside, she looked up at the sky. The hollow was huge! Aspenkit looked up at the sky as well. From behind the branches of a tree, Aspenkit could see that it was brilliantly blue. She was admiring the fluffiness of a cloud when she heard a voice.

"Wow, they're adorable! Who's this one?"

"This is Aspenkit," Lionblaze muttered through a mouthful of fur. "And that one is Hollykit."

"Oh, they're so cute!" The she-cat mewed. She was red-orange, the color of a beetle. She looked at Aspenkit. "Hi, I'm Cherryfall." She mewed. "How are you?"

Aspenkit mewed. She was fine, but she couldn't talk yet and was slightly annoyed at Cherryfall for invading her personal space.

As Cherryfall cooed over Hollykit, Aspenkit dropped out of her dad's grip and tumbled near the fresh-kill pile. She looked up at it. _Look at all this food the warriors caught! One day, I'll catch that much food and feed the whole entire Clan!_

Aspenkit meowed in wonder. Lionblaze looked over at the kit.

"A lot of prey, huh? One day you'll be able to catch that much. But until then, you've got to stay in the nursery, where it's safe and warm."

_But as soon as I get out of there for good, I'm gonna show the world who's boss! _Aspenkit declared inwardly, puffing out her chest fur.


End file.
